Once Saved Always Saved

[simpleservant]

The problem with O.S.A.S. doctrine is it takes accountability for the sinner out of the equation. If you and I look at a man who says he is saved, produces good fruit for a while then turns away, you will say that man was never saved, and I can say he was saved and lost his salvation. You could be wrong because all Christians are a work in progress, none above sin, and only God knows his heart. I would be wrong because I don't know if he was truly saved or not. We could argue over scripture all our lives and never come to a conclusion. Wouldn't we both be wrong for judging another man. Only God is worthy to judge. God has the ability to see from the end to the beginning, we do not. Even with freewill he knows the decisions we have made and will make, to accept him or reject him. When he saves you nothing can take you from his hand, you may stray from the path but he will find you. But today we have so many people who "think" they are saved, and OSAS teaches them not to look at their own lives because they think they always will be saved. They forget that merely recognizing there is a God isn't the same as believing in and accepting him, and here lies their false sense of security. They never knew what being saved really means, yet they believe they are. Then they combine their own version of being saved with OSAS and never ask the question "Am I truly saved?" It is sad to say they some will never be saved because this doctrine backs up their false claim of salvation. Instead we should preach that a true Christian knows he is saved, but as a work in progress he should never forget he is being saved. It is time we should stop squabbling and worrying about if a man can lose his seat in heaven, and worry more about how to attain one

[Supercryptid]

I know that it says in the Bible that no one can take you away from God when you are saved. But what about this hypothetical situation?

A man from a young age comes to church and has been touched by the presence of God. He comes to the altar and accepts Christ as his saviour. After this, he strongly believes in God and prays every day. He believes that Jesus died for his sins and is saved in every sense of the word.

However, as he gets older, he learns about evolution and other such scientific theories. He begins to wonder if God is real or if his experience was an illusion. Eventually, he reasons that God doesn't exist. He no longer prays or believes that Christ died for him. He thinks it is all a myth.

From OSAS, the man would still be saved right? Even though he no longer believes that there is a God, he will still go to heaven because 'no one will snatch him out of God's hand'. This is what doesn't make sense to me.

Personally, I believe that God exists. I believe that Christ died for my sins. I believe that there is a Satan who tries to decieve us. I also pray to God and ask him to forgive me of my sins if I happen to commit any. Am I saved, or am I living in some false security? This is important for me to know.

[aw]

There are 3 possibilities it seems- those who believe they are saved and really are; those who believe they are saved and are not; and those who don't know one way or the other but just hope for the best.

Or, what is the basis for ASSURANCE of salvation? If one believes that a person contributes in any way to their own salvation, then they have every reason to doubt that they ever had it and that they could lose it. Salvation is  a WORK of God on man's behalf and we receive it by simple trust in the Lord as Saviour. Not by the will of man, nor of flesh, but of God. For by GRACE(God's free gift) are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. (Eph 2:8-10)

It is as ETERNAL as He is and there is not a sin that could revoke it because if there were, at any given point in time, we would either be perfectly sinless or hopelessly lost and on the way to hell.

aw

[JudgeNot]

Yes aw – I agree – it is as simple as you say (in my opinion).  Those who don’t agree may ask, “Well then why should I ‘work’ to be ‘better’”?  Because each of us will receive “our just rewards” in the form of crowns – which in turn we will lay at the Lord’s feet as gifts back to Him.  What greater reward than being able to give Him something in return??? Nothing I can think of.  

Also, if I may interject, many who do not believe in ‘once saved’ do not understand the word ‘ALL’.  Jesus was crucified for ALL sins – past, present and future.  ALL doesn’t mean some – ALL means ALL!
Another reason some disagree with ‘once saved’ is that they may have a bit of selfishness in their hearts.  “I worked harder for it, then it I should get it – not the other guy who didn’t work as hard as me!”  (Remember; that is the attitude of the Prodigal Son’s brother.)

[simpleservant]

Supercryptid,
These are the same questions I have asked myself for years, The hypothetical question is nothing more than .... a hypothetical, assumed without proof. Therefore we could never possibly know the answer, only God knows if he is saved. You and I can only see a fraction of that persons life, not his heart. We do not know his true intention or his last dying words. But God does, he would have never saved that person only to hold him for a short while, what he grabs he intends to keep. I believe you are on the right path, same as I, to believe in God, believe Jesus died for our sins, and ask remissions for sins to come, because only One has been found perfect, and he has paid the price for us all. We should try to walk his steps, strive to do better, but realize we are never perfect. We should work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, to do all things without murmurnigs and disputings, that ye may shine as lights in the world (Phi. 2:12-15) and examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; Prove your own selves. (2 Cor 13:5). This is the key to knowing you are truly saved. A person who merely believes they were saved has never examined their own lives, he only examines others. If you are truly worried you are living in  false security, all you have to do is ask God, be willing to listen, to pray about it, and be patient. He will provide the answer you are looking for, and him alone, because no other man is worthy to judge another.

[simpleservant]

AW,
i agree, and it appears that in my own writing I might have misinterpreted my own stance, clearly a person needs not to work for his own salvation, but as Judgenot said, What greater reward than being able to give Him something in return??? .  The point I was trying to make is, what of the "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I (Jesus) profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity".(Mat 7:22-23). These are the people with a false sense of security. Is it not wrong to teach them to not examine themselves, to question their own salvation? And If they never, how will they learn the truth? How many will they corrupt with their own philosophy of what being saved means to them.

[Pilgrim]

In the Image of Christ
Colossians 3:8-11

“Are you a child of God, or are you just religious?”
(Part One)

    "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."  (Matt. 7:21-23)

        “That’s strong language!”, you might say. But it was the Lord Jesus Christ who spoke these solemn words.  Anyone who calls Jesus “Lord” should examine himself in the light of these verses.  The only thing sadder than dying in your sin and ending up in the lake of fire for eternity, is the person who calls Jesus “Lord”, yet ends up in that same lake of fire.  Can you imagine the horror of his soul as his eyes close for the last time in this life thinking that when he opens them again on the other side of eternity, he will be “better off”, because he’ll see the glories of heaven, and to his horror and surprise he awakes in the torments of hell? His relatives who are still alive console themselves saying that father or mother or brother or sister is better now, happy now, etc. Little do they know!

        We need to observe and consider several things as we read these verses.  First we see that the people that the Lord is referring to are religious folk.  With their mouth they call Jesus “Lord”.  They claim to be Christians, and that they are involved in God’s work.  To substantiate their claim they point to spiritual things like prophesying, casting out devils, and many other good works.  Some will say these are people who once were saved, and yet somehow lost their salvation, that is, that they WERE Christians once, they once believed in earlier years,  but something happened and they “fell away” or “gave it up”. Yet we should pay attention to what Jesus said,  “I never knew you”.  

        Another thing to notice is the size of the problem, the quantity of people who will experience this painful problem. Christ said that in that day, “many will say...”.   He didn’t say a few, just a handful, but rather, “many”.  That is a big problem, it affects a lot of people, people who, sadly, do not suspect that this is their problem. Great multitudes will find themselves in this horrifying situation.  The saddest thing about this, is that once these people are awakened to the deception in which they lived, it will be to late to do anything about it. A stitch in time saves nine, but a stitch too late can’t alter your fate! Therefore, two good questions to ask yourself are, who are these people, and, is it possible that “I” am one of them?

        I have met many people in my lifetime that claimed they were children of God and are convinced that when they die they will be in heaven.  Yet these people can’t even claim the good works that the people in the verses above can.  Their lives manifest a love of the things in this world rather than the things of God (1 John 2:15-17).  When they stand before God they will not be able to say, “Lord, look at what I have done for you”,  because they have done nothing for the Lord.  Yet these people claim they belong to him.  If the Lord tells the people who did so much in the above verses that He never knew them, what chances do these people have?  

        Don’t take me wrong, I am definitely not saying that we are saved by good works.  The Word of God teaches us that we are saved by faith, not by our own works (deeds), and that a saved person is created for good works. (Ephesians 2:8-10 Titus 2:14 3:4-7).  In other words, we can’t do good works in order to be saved, but once we are saved, we do them because we’re saved. They are the effect of salvation, not the cause. If you are in Christ you will bear fruit (John 15:1-6)  If you claim to be a child of God and yet there is no fruit in your life, perhaps it is because you are not really in Christ.  If you claim to be a child of God, yet your life is full of the pleasures of sin and void of the things of God,  you have deceived yourself, my friend.  In the book of Titus we read these words

"They profess that they know God; but in works they deny [him], being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." Titus 1:16

    Notice that there is a profession and a denial in this verse.  The profession is with the mouth and the denial is with the deeds, the lifestyle.  In God’s eyes the denial speaks louder than the profession, just as we say, “actions speak louder than words”.

        Dear friend, I have met many people that fit the verses above, and  not only this, but also I myself used to be one of them.  I made a profession of the Lord Jesus when I was eight years old and was baptized.  I attended church and was involved in many of the activities held there, I read my bible, and even prayed from time to time.  At about the age of twelve all the spiritual activity in my life stopped.  I started a love affair with the things of the world.  I loved the pleasures of sin that this world had to offer, and pursued those pleasures with great zeal.  At twenty years of age the Lord started working on me.  My brother gave me a book to read written by a Christian.  I refused to read the book for many months.  It was by my lamp stand and every night as I turned the light off I would see the book just sitting there.  One night I picked the book up and started reading it.  About half way through the book the author asks this question, “If you were to die tonight where would you be spending eternity?”  I had heard or read this question many times in the past, and without hesitation said to myself, “heaven of course”.  Yet when I read this question that night the Spirit of God convicted me.  It was the first time in my life I really gave this question more than a second of thought.  How could I claim to be a child of God when right across the room I had grocery bags filled with pornography exposing the ungodly lust of my heart?  My mouth for years was filled with obscenities and my heart filled with prejudice and hatred toward others.  As I examined my life, I realized for the first time that I was not a child of God, and that I was in big trouble with Him.  If God was going to let me into heaven He might as well tear down those pearly gates and let everyone in.  It was that night that I repented and bowed my knee to the Lord and asked Him to save me from my sin and from the penalty of my sin.  I knew that I deserved the wrath that God has for unrepentant sinners.  I also knew that God offered a pardon for my sin, and that this was a based on one simple requirement. The condition was, receiving His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and believing on His name.  If I would receive The Lord Jesus Christ, then God would not only deliver me from His wrath, but also He would make me His child (John 1:11-13).  Dear friend, if you examined your life and find that you are in the same condition that I was in then I would plead with you to do as I did, repent and call on the name of the Lord to be saved (Romans 10:9-13).  Right now it is not yet too late.  I pray that you will not be one of the many that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 7:21-23 that deceived themselves until it was too late.  Call on the name of the Lord now, while there is still time.  “Now is the day of salvation.”

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[aw]

AW,
i agree, and it appears that in my own writing I might have misinterpreted my own stance, clearly a person needs not to work for his own salvation, but as Judgenot said, What greater reward than being able to give Him something in return??? .  The point I was trying to make is, what of the "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I (Jesus) profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity".(Mat 7:22-23). These are the people with a false sense of security. Is it not wrong to teach them to not examine themselves, to question their own salvation? And If they never, how will they learn the truth? How many will they corrupt with their own philosophy of what being saved means to them.



aw replies: I know. I wrestled with Mt 7:22,23 for awhile but it is not applicable to a believer in Christ. He would never say to a believer that "I never knew you" for the basic reason that He indwells every believer by His Spirit.

[Tog_Neve]

Amen Pilgrim